Hulk (2003 film)
Hulk is a 2003 American superhero film based on the fictional Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures. It was directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Michael France and John Turman. Billy Crudup stars as Bruce Banner/Hulk, alongside Liv Tyler, William Hurt, Chad Michael Murray, Goran Višnjić, and Vladimir Mashkov. The film explores the origins of Bruce Banner, who after an accident involving gamma radiation finds himself able to turn into a huge green-skinned monster whenever he is emotionally provoked or stressed, while being pursued by the United States military and comes into a conflict with a Croatian spy, Emil Blonsky, who becomes a similar but more bestial creature. Development for the film started as far back as 1990. The film was at one point to be directed by Joe Johnston and then Jonathan Hensleigh. More scripts had been written by Hensleigh, John Turman, Michael France, Zak Penn, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and J. J. Abrams before Louis Leterrier's involvement. Filming mostly took place in Alamogordo, New Mexico, from March to June 2002. Over 700 visual effects shots were created in post-production using a combination of motion capture and computer-generated imagery to complete the film. The film premiered at the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, on June 15, 2003, and was released in the United States on June 20, 2003, by Universal Pictures. It received praise for its visuals, action sequences, and portrayal of the title character, and grossed over $263 million worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 2003. Plot Bruce Banner is the son of Dr. Brian Banner, an atomic physicist, and his wife Rebecca. Although Rebecca deeply loved Bruce, who returned her affection, Brian hated their child. Brian never wanted children because of what happened to him and his sisters. An alcoholic, and a very, very angry man, Brian was driven by an insane jealousy of Bruce for being an object of Rebecca's love. Further, Brian believed that his radiation work had altered his DNA and given him a mutant son. These factors led to Brian abusing Bruce physically. Bruce's life reached a turning point when Brian murdered Rebecca and was placed in a mental hospital after being removed from his father's negative influence. After that, Bruce was raised by his aunt and father's sister, Susan Banner, who understood his great pain and rage over his childhood sufferings. Susan raised Bruce with love and care as if he were her own child. As an adult and a genius in nuclear physics, Banner wishes to pursue philanthropic brands of science, but couldn't receive any financial funding for his projects, and thus in lack of other options, goes to work at a United States Department of Defense nuclear research facility in New Mexico. There, Banner meets General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross, the Air Force officer in command of the base, and his daughter Betty Ross, who Banner ends up falling in love with. Banner was also introduced to Igor Drenkov (under the alias "Igor Starsky") and Emil Blonsky, who were secretly Slavic spies. Banner designs and oversees construction of the Gamma Reactor, which is intended to generate electricity using gamma radiation. Banner is present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first test of the Gamma Reactor. However, unbeknownst to Banner, the device is sabotaged by Drenkov, causing an explosion to rock the reactor. Observing that a civilian has breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner runs out of the bunker to escort the civilian to safety. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner pushes him through the bunker. Before Banner could get himself to safety, the reactor explodes, and intense waves of radiation reach the surface. Banner is irradiated with highly charged radioactive particles. Banner and Rick are recovered from the military. Left in isolation to presumably die of radiation poisoning both men survive. When night falls, Jones turns on a "radio," actually a Geiger counter. Its clicking increases and Banner changes into a huge green figure, known as the Hulk. He pushes through the wall, wrecks a jeep full of soldiers when it hits him, and wanders off to hide. Rick, feeling indebted to Bruce for saving his life goes after the Hulk to make sure nobody gets hurt. Hulk goes to Betty's house, but is suddenly surrounded by the army, which he easily defeats them and leaves. The next morning, Bruce is woken up in the desert by Rick where he apparently fainted. Banner refuses Rick's offer to go to the latter's house, unwilling to put someone in danger. However, Rick points out that they have to be together since Banner saved his life. Banner and Rick return to the base, with Banner knowing that he cannot let the people believe the Hulk killed him, there Banner is confronted by Ross, who demands to know about Banner's disappearance. The next time Banner turns into the Hulk is when he catches Igor Drenkov in his lab trying to steal his gamma plans. Drenkov is no match for the brute strength of the Hulk and is easily subdued. The Hulk reverts back to Bruce Banner before the military arrives, and security officers burst in and take Banner into custody while Drenkov is arrested. Banner and Rick are taken away in a helicopter. Unknown to Banner, Emil Blonsky is hiding in the laboratory where he had been photographing Banner's gamma radiation equipment. Unaware of the nature of the machine that Banner had built, Blonsky stands in front of the machine and activates it. It bombards him with a more concentrated and intense dosage of gamma radiation than Banner himself had received from the explosion that had first turned him into the Hulk. The radiation has an immediate mutagenic effect upon Blonsky, transforming him into the Abomination. The Abomination gains greater strength than the Hulk at the latter's "normal" level of strength, and, unlike the Hulk, Abomination retains his full human intelligence. Infatuated with his newfound power, the Abomination begins a rampage through the base. Realizing that the Hulk is the only one who can stop Blonsky, Banner convinces Ross to release him. He jumps from Ross' helicopter and transforms after hitting the ground. After a battle throughout the desert, the Hulk defeats Blonsky by nearly strangling him to death, but spares his life upon hearing Betty's plea, and leaves Blonsky for Ross and his forces to arrest. After having a peaceful moment with Betty, the Hulk flees the desert. Although Banner manages to get away safely, the constant fear of the Hulk will loom over Banner for years to come. In a mid-credits scene, Gargoyle receives a letter from Igor Drenkov, who is now in prison. The letter is written as if it were to his "wife", but Gargoyle realizes that their mission has failed and informs the Leader. Cast *Billy Crudup as Bruce Banner **Lou Ferrigno provides vocal performance as the Hulk. **Mike Weinberg as Young Bruce Banner *Liv Tyler as Betty Ross *William Hurt as General Thaddeus E. "Thunderbolt" Ross ** Todd Tesen as Young Thaddeus Ross *Chad Michael Murray as Rick Jones *Goran Višnjić as Emil Blonsky / Abomination *Vladimir Mashkov as Igor Drenkov *Adrian Pasdar as Glenn Talbot Matt Frewer and Mark Hamill have uncredited appearances in a post-credits scene as the Leader and Gargoyle, reprising their roles from the 1996 animated series The Incredible Hulk. Paul Kersey portrays Bruce's father at the beginning of the film, Brian Banner, and Cara Buono portrays his mother, Rebecca Banner. Paget Brewster portrays Bruce's paternal aunt Susan Banner. Hulk co-creator/executive producer Stan Lee, Lou Ferrigno, and rapper David Banner made cameo appearances as security guards. Jack Colvin, who played Jack McGee on The Incredible Hulk TV series, made a cameo appearance as a scientist. This was Colvin's final appearance before his death in 2005. Production Development Jonathan Hensleigh Producers Avi Arad and Gale Anne Hurd began the development for Hulk in 1990, the same year the final TV movie based on the 1970s TV series aired. They set the property up at Universal Pictures in 1992. Michael France and Stan Lee were invited into Universal's offices in 1994, with France writing the script. Universal's concept was to have the Hulk battle terrorists, an idea France disliked. John Turman, a Hulk comic book fan, was brought to write the script in 1995, getting approval from Lee. Turman wrote ten drafts and was heavily influenced by the Tales to Astonish issues, which pitted the Hulk against General Ross and the military, the Leader, Rick Jones, and the atomic explosion origin from the comics. Universal had mixed feelings over Turman's script, but nonetheless future screenwriters would use many elements. Hurd brought her husband Jonathan Hensleigh as co-producer the following year. Universal was courting France once more to write the script, but changed their minds when Joe Johnston became the director in April 1997. The studio wanted Hensleigh to rewrite the script due to his successful results on Johnston's Jumanji. France was fired before he wrote a single page, but received a buy-off from Universal. Johnston dropped out of directing in July 1997 in favor of October Sky, and Hensleigh convinced Universal to make the Hulk his directing debut. Turman was brought back a second time to write two more drafts. Zak Penn then rewrote it. His script featured a fight between the Hulk and a school of sharks, Hensleigh rewrote from scratch, coming up with a brand new storyline featuring Bruce Banner, who prior to the accident which will turn him into The Hulk, experimenting with gamma-irradiated insect DNA on three convicts. This transforms the convicts into "insect men" that cause havoc. Filming was set to start in December 1997 in New Mexico for a summer 1999 release date, but filming was pushed back for four months. Hensleigh subsequently rewrote the script with J. J. Abrams. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were also brought on board to rewrite with Hensleigh still attached as director. Gregory Sporleder was cast as "Novak", Banner's archenemy while Lynn "Red" Williams was cast as a convict who transforms into a combination of human, ant and beetle. In March 1998 Universal put Hulk on hiatus due to its escalating $100 million budget and worries of Hensleigh directing his first film. Hensleigh immediately went to rewrite the script in order to lower the budget. Michael France Hensleigh found the rewriting process to be too difficult and dropped out, and felt he "wasted nine months in pre-production". It took another eight months for France to convince Universal and the producers to let him try to write a script for a third time. France claimed "Someone within the Universal hierarchy wasn't sure if this was a science fiction adventure, or a comedy, and I kept getting directions to write both. I think that at some point when I wasn't in the room, there may have been discussions about turning it into a Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler movie." France stated his vision of the film was similar to John Turman's draft. The Gamma Reactor from the 1996 animated series was used to replace the gamma bomb from the comics. The comics used the bomb because of the ongoing Cold War and both sides designing bigger and more powerful bombs. By the time the movie was being made, the Soviet Union had collapsed and the Cold War ended. Additionally, a year after Hulk debuted the United States signed the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty refraining from above-ground nuclear weapons testing. The reactor gave the movie a more believable contemporary version of the classic origin. Elements such as Banner's tragic romance with Ross and the black ops made it to the final film. Louis Leterrier On January 20, 2001, Arad confirmed Marvel Studios would be providing the money for Hulk's production budget, with Universal distributing, because Universal did not meet the deadline for filming the movie. Louis Leterrier, who enjoyed the TV series as a child, was brought in to direct the movie. Billy Crudup was cast in October 2001, signing for an additional two sequels. Louis Leterrier felt obliged to cast Crudup upon seeing Waking the Dead, and first approached the actor in July 2001. The role was heavily pursued by other actors. Crudup explained, "I was obsessed with the TV show. I was never a huge comic book reader when I was a kid, but was completely obsessed with the television show." It was widely reported Eric Bana turned down the role. Johnny Depp and Steve Buscemi were reported to be under consideration for the lead. Edward Norton expressed interest in the role, but eventually turned down the part. Filming Filming began on March 18, 2002, in New Mexico, primarily in Alamogordo. This included the Los Alamos National Laboratory, White Sands Missile Range, and the Chihuahuan Desert. Filming concluded in June after eighty-eight days of filming. Visual effects Leterrier cited motion capture as the standard he was aiming for. Crudup and Višnjić filmed 2500 takes of different movements the monsters would make (such as the Hulk's "thunderclaps"). Phosphorescent face paint applied to the actors' faces and strobe lighting would help record the most subtle mannerisms into the computer. Others including Cyril Raffaelli provided motion capture for stunts and fights after the main actors had done video referencing. Leterrier hired Rhythm and Hues to provide the CGI. Overall 700 effects shots were created. Motion capture aided in placing and timing of movements, but overall keyframe animation by Rhythm and Hues provided the necessary "finesse and superhero quality". Many of the animators and Leterrier himself provided video reference for the climactic fight. Dale Keown's comic book artwork of the Hulk was an inspiration for his design. Visual effects supervisor Kurt Williams envisioned the Hulk's physique as a linebacker rather than a bodybuilder. A height of nine feet was chosen for the character as they did not want him to be too inhuman. To make him more expressive, computer programs controlling the inflation of his muscles and saturation of skin color were created. Williams cited flushing as an example of humans' skin color being influenced by their emotions. The animators felt green blood would make his skin become darker rather than lighter, and his skin tones, depending on lighting, either resemble an olive or even gray slate. His animation model was completed without the effects company's full knowledge of what he would be required to do: he was rigged to do whatever they imagined, in case the model was to be used for The Avengers film. The Hulk's medium-length hair was modeled on Mike Deodato's art. He originally had a crew cut, but Leterrier decided flopping hair imbued him with more character. Leterrier cited An American Werewolf in London as the inspiration for Banner's transformation, wanting to show how painful it was for him to change. As a nod to the live-action TV series, Banner's eyes change color first when he transforms. Leterrier changed the Abomination's design from the comics because he felt the audience would question why he resembled a fish or a reptile, instead of "an über-human" like the Hulk. Rather, his hideousness is derived from being injected multiple times into his skin, muscles, and bones, creating a creature with a protruding spine and sharp bones that he can use to stab. His green skin is pale and reflects light, so it appears orange because of surrounding fire during the climactic battle. The motion capture performers, including Višnjić, tried to make the character behave less gracefully than the Hulk. They modeled his posture and the way he turns his head on a shark. A height of eleven feet was chosen for the character. Leterrier tried to work in the character's pointed ears but realized the Hulk would bite them off (using the example of Mike Tyson when he fought Evander Holyfield), and felt ignoring that would make the Hulk come across as stupid. Leterrier had planned to use prosthetic makeup and animatronics to complement the computer-generated imagery. The make-up artists were set to portray Blonsky's gradual transformation, which Zak Penn said would portray Blonsky "not being used to having these properties. Like he's much heavier, and we talked about how when he walks down the sidewalk, his weight destroys the sidewalk and he's tripping. all about the humanization of these kinds of superhero characters, showing the physics of the effect may actually have on them." Tom Woodruff, Jr. of Amalgamated Dynamics (who created all the costumes for the Alien films since Alien 3) was in negotiations and created two busts of the Hulk and prosthetic hands to act as stand-ins for the character. A full animatronic was never created as it was decided it would complicate production to set up shots for a puppet and then a computer graphic. Destruction was mostly done practically. Music The film score for Hulk was composed by Danny Elfman, who scored Spider-Man the previous year. Mychael Danna was the original composer for the film. However, Danna's score was rejected by studio executives for its non-traditional approach, which featured Japanese taiko, African drumming, and Arabic singing. Elfman was then approached by Universal's president of film music, Kathy Nelson. With 37 days to compose over two hours of music, Elfman agreed out of respect to Leterrier. Leterrier pushed Elfman to write material that did not sound like his previous superhero scores. Release Theatrical Hulk premiered on June 15, 2003, at the Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, California and was released in theaters on June 20 in the United States, where it opened in 3,505 theaters. Marketing Universal Pictures spent $2.1 million to market the film in a 30-second television spot during Super Bowl XXXVII on January 26, 2003. And a 70-second teaser trailer was attached to Spider-Man on May 3, 2002. Burger King promoted the film, and General Nutrition Centers used the title character as a role model for strength training. Hasbro created the toy line, which they released on May 3, 2003, while Radical Entertainment released a video game on May 27, 2003. The film received a novelization written by Peter David. Home media Hulk was released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on VHS and DVD on October 28, 2003. The DVD includes behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, and deleted scenes. The film was released on HD DVD format on December 12, 2006, and it was later released on Blu-ray on September 16, 2008. Hulk was released on 4K Blu-ray on July 9, 2019. Reception Critical response Coming soon Box office Hulk earned $134.8 million in the United States and Canada, as well as $128.6 million from other territories, for a worldwide total of $263.4 million. The film earned $55.4 million in its opening weekend, becoming the top film at the box office. Hulk also opened in 38 other countries, adding $31 million to the total opening. Its openings in Mexico and Russia created records for Universal. The film grossed 24 million yuan (roughly $3.4 million) in its Chinese opening. Accolades Hulk was nominated for Choice Summer Movie at the 2003 Teen Choice Awards. Liv Tyler and Danny Elfman received nominations at the 30th Saturn Awards with Best Actress and Best Music. The film was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film. Category:2000s